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FIU Digital Project Guidelines and Help Materials

The internal standard operating procedures for FIU Libraries' digital collections

Recording audio with Audition

  • Insert your cassette tape into your tape player. Make sure the tape is rewound to the beginning and that the tape deck is connected to the computer with an auxiliary cable.
    • Open Adobe Audition. To record a new file click on File - New - Multitrack Session

 

  • Pick a location to save your new audio file into. Make sure that you save your audio files into the folder that corresponds with the FI number you assigned to the tape on your spreadsheet 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • To record audio you need to prime the track to record. On the top track on the lefthand side click the small R to prime to record. If you want to monitor your recording live, also click the small I to enable monitoring.

 

  • When you are ready to record, press the red circle "record" button in the control panel. Make sure Audition is recording and then press Play on your tape player.

 

  • During recording, if you need to pause recording for any reason, press Pause to halt the recording process. When you are ready to continue recording, press the Record button again to resume. Caution: If you push the Stop button to pause this will end the recording. If you now press Record again you will have two separate audio files that will need to be combined.

 

  • When you are done recording, press the Stop button. You can now edit your audio file. (See "editing audio in Audition" below)

 

  • When you have finished editing your recording, you will need to save again in a different format. Go to File - Save As. Change the file name of your recording to match the FI number you assigned the recording in your spreadsheet. Under the Format tab, select MP3 Audio. Now click Save.

Editing audio in Audition

  • There are many edit functions available in Audition to improve the sound quality of your audio files. The ones you will most likely need for cassette tape recordings are: Hiss Reduction, Amplify, Noise Reduction, and Vocal Enhancer.

 

  • After finishing your recording, use your mouse to highlight any empty parts of your recording (i.e. when you turned over the tape or the empty parts at the end and beginning) and then click 'Delete' on your keyboard to remove these parts. Once you have cut your recording down, go to File and Save your recording as is. Note: This will save an original recording in .wav format

 

  • Now you can edit the recording to improve its quality. If your recording has a stretch of specific noise you wish to remove, go to Effects - Noise Reduction/Restoration - Noise Reduction (process).

  • Highlight the specific noise part of your recording (this only works if there is nothing but the specific noise in the highlighted clip, otherwise the program will also remove voices and other sounds). Now click on 'Capture Noise Print'. Click on 'Select Entire File' to apply your filter settings to the whole recording. You can now adjust the sliders to filter the specific noise you highlighted from your recording.

  • If there is no useful stretch of noise without voices to capture a noise print, you can still improve audio quality by using Hiss Reduction. Select Effects - Noise Reduction/Restoration - Hiss Reduction. You can now move the sliders to adjust the level of noise filtering for your recording. Caution: Adjusting the sliders to a high decibel level removes the most noise, but also cuts out some levels of human voices and gives your recording an overall "fishbowl" sound.

  • To amplify an audio recording select Effects - Amplitude and Compression - Amplify. Here you can amplify or reduce the volume of your audio recording. Note: By amplifying you will also amplify any white noise on your recording. If the recording has a lot of noise, use Hiss Reduction first, then Amplify, and then use Hiss Reduction again for the best results.

 

  • To enhance speech, go to Effects - Special - Vocal Enhancer. You can choose the best setting for your specific recording by selecting the filter for male or for female voices.